Permission to Come Aforum?

NovusDies
NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Sunday started my 4 month maintenance/recomp period. This is part of my overall plan to be over-prepared for full-time maintenance... assuming that is possible.

For several months now I have been working on habits, NEAT improvement, and trying to consider my strategy. It helped me to stop thinking of this as preparing for maintenance and start thinking of it as self-improvement and not just with regards to weight management and fitness. I have been building other good habits because I believe good habits breed the same. If I am going to fit more exercise into my day I need a stronger habit base to improve time management. If I am going to maintain my accountability and make mindful decisions I need to understand how to establish better habits and environment to reduce temptation.

I have increased both my NEAT and my exercise calories. I have overshot my goal there but I suspect that will scale back down some over time.

As it stands my plan is to do 4 months of maint/recomp, return to a deficit for a couple of months, and then do another 4 months. After that I am sure I will be ready to finish my weight loss phase.

I know it won't feel exactly the same because I will always know this is ending and real maintenance is forever but I want to simulate it as much as possible. I want to feel like I will have a good handle on this because going back to my morbid obese life just can't be an option.

Right now I think I will continue with my practice of banking some calories for the weekend. That seems ridiculous at this calorie level but I really have no need for so many during the work week. I don't want to start drinking weekly or even monthly but I never intended to push alcohol so far out of my system so banking gives me an opportunity there too.

I appreciate any wisdom offered.

«1

Replies

  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,240 Member
    I echo the slightly crazy, like a fox, bro up-thread. As long as you keep keeping that head in the game the way you have been you will be in as good a shape as anyone can be!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    Make it so, ND.

    I think for me it's like going to work every day - it just has to be a priority.

    I believe you'll be a welcome addition to this forum. Er, Welcome! :flowerforyou:
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    I doubt I will see a weight I can use as information for about a month. I always upswing 7ish pounds initially anyway when eating maintenance and adding more exercise or higher intensity exercise will throw more mud into the water.
  • baconslave
    baconslave Posts: 7,018 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    I doubt I will see a weight I can use as information for about a month. I always upswing 7ish pounds initially anyway when eating maintenance and adding more exercise or higher intensity exercise will throw more mud into the water.

    That's true. I just personally find it helpful to constantly remind myself that the scale will jerk me around. And that knowledge is enough to keep my paranoid and pessimistic two-thirds talked far enough back from the edge, y'know. :smirk: But that's my own hang-up.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    What was hard for me: transitioning to feeling "success" without seeing the scale move down. I learned to let maintaining be its own reward, but it was a big mental adjustment.

    Giving yourself time to adjust to maintaining is a great idea. I wish I'd been as intentional with it, but it all worked out.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    cheryldumais wrote: »
    I understand your concerns and we all have to be diligent in keeping our heads in the game. I think your idea has merit. I learned the hard way when arriving at maintenance that I had some misconceptions about how to deal with it. In the back of my mind I was going to be able to eat lots more now that I had "arrived". One of the most shocking things was that I never lost that last 10 pounds because I was at maintenance level in my calories without knowing it. And I thought I was dieting! That was a rude awakening. The last year has been a journey too as I gained back 15 pounds. I am slowly taking it back off but I realize now just how hard I will have to work to maintain. It's worth it as you well know. I no longer feel crippled by my fat. I am finally "normal". Hang in there @NovusDies you are an inspiration to many of us.

    The person that seems to do everything perfectly is not my role model.

    Well then I will be of no help to you at all. :sunglasses::lol:

    Hell, I only had to lose 20ish lbs and I managed to gain 10 of them back in the blink of an eye because I decided I didn't feel like paying attention anymore. I mean, I managed to not really pay attention while still logging daily, geesh.

    I'm not for a second saying we all go through the same thing regardless of where we started from, and I'm sure you and I will have to deploy very different strategies and deal with different struggles to have any kind of long term maintenance success. But I think the commitment to keeping our head in the game and the understanding that it's up to us to make maintenance happen is the key. And being patient through the ups and downs, and perhaps the occasional slight backslide.

    Not sure if anyone told you yet, but newbies have to swab the deck.

    I feel weird because I don't need to direct you to a stickie post. :blush:

    I feel cheated without a link.
  • SlayLikeAWarrior
    SlayLikeAWarrior Posts: 89 Member
    @NovusDies, it looks like you have weighed your chances and willing to take the dive. The only way to learn and be successful is by taking risks and learn from the outcome. Good luck my friend!
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    psychod787 wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    Sunday started my 4 month maintenance/recomp period. This is part of my overall plan to be over-prepared for full-time maintenance... assuming that is possible.

    For several months now I have been working on habits, NEAT improvement, and trying to consider my strategy. It helped me to stop thinking of this as preparing for maintenance and start thinking of it as self-improvement and not just with regards to weight management and fitness. I have been building other good habits because I believe good habits breed the same. If I am going to fit more exercise into my day I need a stronger habit base to improve time management. If I am going to maintain my accountability and make mindful decisions I need to understand how to establish better habits and environment to reduce temptation.

    I have increased both my NEAT and my exercise calories. I have overshot my goal there but I suspect that will scale back down some over time.

    As it stands my plan is to do 4 months of maint/recomp, return to a deficit for a couple of months, and then do another 4 months. After that I am sure I will be ready to finish my weight loss phase.

    I know it won't feel exactly the same because I will always know this is ending and real maintenance is forever but I want to simulate it as much as possible. I want to feel like I will have a good handle on this because going back to my morbid obese life just can't be an option.

    Right now I think I will continue with my practice of banking some calories for the weekend. That seems ridiculous at this calorie level but I really have no need for so many during the work week. I don't want to start drinking weekly or even monthly but I never intended to push alcohol so far out of my system so banking gives me an opportunity there too.

    I appreciate any wisdom offered.

    Bro, why in the *kitten* do you think you will have problems on maintenance? You seem to be smart and fairly resilient. You got this.

    I was in a prison of my own fat. It created disabilities from which I am now free. I am allowed to be afraid of regaining. More importantly this is not a new thought. When I thought I might do this months ago it immediately felt right. I may not listen to my body that much but I do trust my instincts.

    I am also very aware that for the foreseeable future the thought of bulking will not sit well with me. I also know that if I lost all my weight right this minute I still won't be happy with my aesthetics because my fitness level is still too low. I have spare fat so I might as well try to convert some of it to muscle.

    I have roughly 25 pounds left to lose. I am in a good place and in no hurry. Unless I get news from a doctor that puts a priority back on losing weight I see no harm in this approach.

    We are more alike than we are different. I have been through all of that and am continuing to fight my fears slowly. Anytime you need to chat, send me a message. Us "big" boys who have lost insane amounts of weight need to stick together.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    What was hard for me: transitioning to feeling "success" without seeing the scale move down. I learned to let maintaining be its own reward, but it was a big mental adjustment.

    Giving yourself time to adjust to maintaining is a great idea. I wish I'd been as intentional with it, but it all worked out.

    I have seen several people make similar comments about adjusting to a new meaning of success. That is one of the reasons I wanted to give myself new and easy ways to "win" each day and let calorie management be on the same level as brushing my teeth. I have no idea if it will work.

    Because of how I stopped I have some unrealized weight loss (meaning I never saw it on the scale). On Sat I was already masking about 4 pounds and since then I have upticked some more and I am a full 9ish pounds heavier than I could be on the scale. So even now I still expect to see a new low weight at some point after things regulate again. I guess that will cut into my maintenance experience some.

    I think my first 4 month maintenance goals are to:

    1) Learn how my weight behaves.
    2) See how it feels to not expect losses
    3) Adjust to balancing my calories closer to zero

    3 will probably be one of the harder things for me to do. My logging habits tend to be high. I also eat a variable amount of daily calories and while losing as long as I didn't create more than an extra 875ish calories worth of deficit in a week I didn't bother with eating them back if I didn't want them.
  • kcmcbee
    kcmcbee Posts: 179 Member
    Sounds like a great way to take the long view! Good luck my friend!
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    Getting ahead of it mentally is a good call. Like for many, my transition into maintenance was rocky and I still question many things. I drift in and out of logging like continuing education, I find it helpful and reassuring when all the other markers and numbers could be saying any number of things. Also remembering that the long view is even more important to get a handle on - telling people trying to lose to look out 4-6 weeks is a decent time frame for those in that phase, whereas it's months and longer for maintenance. Course corrections also needn't be dramatic for this reason.

    You got this!
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    MelanieCN77 wrote: »
    Getting ahead of it mentally is a good call. Like for many, my transition into maintenance was rocky and I still question many things. I drift in and out of logging like continuing education, I find it helpful and reassuring when all the other markers and numbers could be saying any number of things. Also remembering that the long view is even more important to get a handle on - telling people trying to lose to look out 4-6 weeks is a decent time frame for those in that phase, whereas it's months and longer for maintenance. Course corrections also needn't be dramatic for this reason.

    You got this!

    My plan is for 4 months but that is just a number I chose. I will need to wait for a usable scale result which for me is even more problematic because there have been times while losing that 6 weeks was not enough time to get past the fluctuation noise. Add to that this is also for recomp so that will be a headache on the scale as well.

    My scale result is pretty high today. I am also pretty sore so no surprises there. I was starting to slide back down a bit for a couple of days but then jumped 2.4 pounds again between yesterday and today. As I said one of my goals was to try to establish how my weight would normally behave in maintenance. I have a good feel for how it behaves while losing... well as much as anyone can.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    lol. My Larger Losers group is probably sick of hearing about my spreadsheet too. Mine is on version 6 which just started again on Jan 10th to help determine my latest TDEE. I will continue to use it through at least this first recomp/maintenance cycle.

    I guess that is another goal. To determine what changes I might need to make to my spreadsheet to guide me into the forever.

    I have still managed to create a little over a 1k deficit this first week. That is not too bad and I will erase some of it this weekend. It is hard to turn off the losing switch when I still have some weight that will need to be lost. My recomp is starting pretty slow so a little deficit is not going to hinder much the first couple of weeks. I really do want this to be as close to a net zero period gain/loss though as I can get. I know it will not happen and I will definitely have lost or gained some amount of weight (probably lost) but that should give me info for the next trial.

  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Chiming in to wish you all the best on your quest. Anxious to hear how it goes. We all have our demons.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,184 Member
    edited February 2020
    NovusDies wrote: »

    (snip)

    I appreciate any wisdom offered.

    Just in to wish you well, express my confidence that you're more than up to accomplishing this successfully (and will learn from it) . . . and to LOL a little at the implication that us random maintainers might have some additional wisdom that you don't. ;)
    cmriverside wrote: »

    (snip)

    HUGE life change.

    HUGE issues to overcome, for anyone losing significant weight. I posted in another thread this morning about just some of the factors I had to think about, change, question, etc. Everything from the macros puzzle, nutrition, stress, alcohol, sleep, snacking, meal timing, food choices, exercise, logging, and more. It's a complicated physiological and psychological change. I don't think that ever ends, honestly.

    (snip)

    And just to make things more entertaining, some of the relevant external and internal factors change over time, too, so approach that used to work well now needs some tweaking. Fun stuff. ;)
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »

    (snip)

    I appreciate any wisdom offered.

    Just in to wish you well, express my confidence that you're more than up to accomplishing this successfully (and will learn from it) . . . and to LOL a little at the implication that us random maintainers might have some additional wisdom that you don't. ;)
    cmriverside wrote: »

    (snip)

    HUGE life change.

    HUGE issues to overcome, for anyone losing significant weight. I posted in another thread this morning about just some of the factors I had to think about, change, question, etc. Everything from the macros puzzle, nutrition, stress, alcohol, sleep, snacking, meal timing, food choices, exercise, logging, and more. It's a complicated physiological and psychological change. I don't think that ever ends, honestly.

    (snip)

    And just to make things more entertaining, some of the relevant external and internal factors change over time, too, so approach that used to work well now needs some tweaking. Fun stuff. ;)

    Wisdom is generally either sought or forced upon us. It is better to seek it than to always require a trial.

Categories